Music players such as phonographs and gramophones have existed since the late 19th century. While earlier versions of record players lacked fidelity, record players improved substantially throughout the 20th century, eventually producing an optimal balance of sound fidelity and a soulful quality. However, once music players migrated away from the use of vinyl disks and towards modern digital mobile music devices, the soulful sound quality that is unique to vinyl records appeared to be lost forever.
For those music aficionados that have continued to play vinyl records, conventionally available record players include certain deficiencies. For example, traditional record turntables are typically large, rectangular, and heavy. Although portable record players are currently available, these devices typically incorporate an integrated speaker that produces poor sound quality. Moreover, some past portable record players apply undesirable pressure directly to the face of record. In the 1970s, some of these portable record players were often referred to as “Vinyl Killers”, which are generally portable record players, resembling a vehicle, that scan the record while traveling around the record. These portable record players were known as Vinyl Killers because the records likely became damaged due to the fact that the weight of the portable record player sat directly on the record. While certain high-price portable turntable devices are available, these devices lack automatic and wireless features. These devices are also complex, made for professionals, and are generally unavailable to the typical vinyl record consumer.
In the late 1990s, the music industry essentially stopped the mass market production and sale of vinyl records, with the exception of sales to professional DJs. Recently, however, the demand has been rising for vinyl records. In response to this demand, the financially-struggling record companies have started producing and selling vinyl records on a mass market basis, including both new artists and superstar artists. Record companies have begun releasing vinyl singles, while independent artists have begun releasing vinyl records once given the opportunity. There are now numerous vinyl record re-releases of previously-released and unreleased albums and singles.
This strong reemergence of vinyl has become so popular that it is no longer considered to be a fad or a niche market. It has become apparent, however, that very few vinyl consumers are interested in buying new turntables because turntables are too large, difficult to set up, and arduous to use on a daily basis. Furthermore, turntables are generally incompatible with smart phone/multimedia devices. Regarding those rare wireless turntables, these turntables typically include an FM signal which is an utterly unnecessary feature.
Based on the foregoing, what is needed is an improved, portable record playing device, system, and method for reading data from a stationary vinyl record and wirelessly interfacing with a computing device in a manner which is intuitive and user friendly. The device will preferably minimize the weight applied to the face of the record and will capture the soulful sound qualities of the vinyl record. Features such as one-touch operation and the ability to remotely control the position of the stylus over the face of the record via the interfaced computing device may also be preferable.